Frozen Piña Colada

On my first ever cruise to the Eastern Caribbean, we had a port of call in the Cayman Islands. I tend to get a teensy bit seasick so I was looking forward to getting some land legs. As we got off the ship, there was a line of vendors selling souvenirs and cocktails and I asked John to get me ‘something fun.’

I was off looking at handcrafted items and he walked up with the largest plastic cup I’d ever seen and I assumed it was a Coke. No, ladies and gentlemen, it was a piña colada. I laughed out loud knowing I could never ever drink that much.

After the first sip through the straw, it felt like I was drinking candy and after about 15 sips I realized there was a fair bit of rum in that cup. I drank the whole thing and he bought me another one. I’ve never forgotten how much I giggled that day. I have no recollection of being seasick but I did have a bit of a headache the next day at sea and it was all John’s fault.

I’m not a big drinker and when I do drink it’s usually scotch and a little water over ice and one drink can last the whole night. Plain and simple – like me, really.

Recently I was asked by Crazy Sales if I’d like to collaborate with them to review one of their small appliances for Orgasmic Chef. Like most of my readers, I’ve got nearly one of everything because I can’t resist new toys but I didn’t have an ice maker. I have an ice maker in my freezer but the refrigerator is too big for the space so we built that in with a coffee machine and combi-oven. We have no water to the fridge where it sits now so no ice other than dribbling trays of water from the sink to the freezer.

The Maxkon 3.2L Portable Ice Maker I asked for arrived the other day and after the required amount of time to let it sit and get used to its new home, I filled it up with water and waited. This is a well made, sturdy machine. If you’re in Australia, read all the way to the bottom because one lucky person can win one of these ice makers. If you don’t want to wait, you can buy one of these babies for only $270.

I figured it would take a few hours to get ice so when I heard a little crash in the kitchen, I yelled at the dog thinking he was in the pantry trying to get treats. Again. It wasn’t the dog — it was new ice. It only takes 10 minutes to get the first cubes in the bin. After tossing out the first couple ice cubes or bullets, it was time to make something.

That’s when I remembered that first visit to George Town and those gigantic piña coladas. Recently my daughter-in-law in Atlanta sent me some cream of coconut (Coco Lopez) as a gift and I’d put it away like you’d put away a treasure, only I couldn’t find it. After about an hour of looking (and it’s always in the last place you look) there it was in the back of the pantry where I’m sure I’d looked at least 50 times.

My ice was ready (the ice maker makes up to 20 kilograms/44 pounds of ice every day), I had the cream of coconut and some pineapple juice, a fresh pineapple and some maraschino cherries. Don’t abuse me for having the cherries because I bought them for something and then never made whatever it was I had in mind.

All the ingredients, including the ice went into the blender along with some rum and the aroma instantly transported me back to the Caribbean but first I had to take some photos. When I was done, I emptied both of these glasses. Then I drank what was left in the blender.

John walked in and gave me that look that says, “What is wrong with you?”

“Whut??” I said in my best American voice.

“Nothing… you look odd,” he said and walked out the door. That’s why I love him, no judgement.

If you’re like me and you like ice but don’t have an ice maker in your refrigerator and don’t like fiddling with tray after tray of water to the freezer, check out one of these portable ice makers. I wish I’d thought about this 3 years ago.

On the other hand, if you are craving a piña colada now, here’s how I made these. If you use a straw, it doesn’t feel like alcohol at all.

Thanks to online department store, CrazySales for collaborating with me to offer a Maxkon 3.2L Portable Ice Maker to one lucky Australian resident reader. Simply leave a comment and tell us what you’d make with your first bucket of ice. All CrazySales asks for in return is a social media photo of your prize. Winner to be announced on May 6th.

Comments

Now we’ve got the perfect accompaniment with these lovely maple candied nuts of yours! You know, I’m not into cocktails much but this looks great and may even push over the wine when the weather gets hot. My brother lived in the Cayman islands for a year and was doing Scottish voice-overs for ads in the voice of Sean Connery. Who knows, perhaps he was living on this stuff!

Ha! You sound like me – I couldn’t entire glass of that admittedly delicious piña colada, though I want nothing more than to do just that. Guess I’ll be saving this recipe for when I want to make a small glass for myself at home though! Thanks for sharing, Maureen!

I love a good piña colada! As does Mrs KR — it’s one of her favorite drinks. I usually shake them up, but really need to do a blender version again. Yours looks perfect. Love the story, too. And that ice maker looks pretty nifty!

That IS a good husband especially when you’ve got a pina colada buzz on. Coco lopez is my friend. It’s good in pina colada cheesecake as well. 🙂 I wish my blender would crush/grind ice. Right now, whatever ice is formed is immediately melted by the overheating motor.

Hello Maureen, glad I found your blog. This cocktail looks so amazing! I love coconut with pineapple, and back home (in Brazil) we experiment all kind of recipes with them together.
I’m going to pin your recipe, and I’ll try it with no doubt.
By the way, your cocketail picture is so beautiful, it’s perfection.

I would love to go to the Caymans. What a fabulous story. I’m one of those who refills the ice trays and makes many trips back and forth to the freezer. Apparently no one else knows how to refill an ice tray. Drives me to drink! That ice maker would be handy and I’m impressed at how much ice it can make and how quickly. It would be good for parties xx

I just got back from a vacation in the Dominican Republic and I couldn’t get enough of the pina coladas!! I usually don’t drink when I go out to dinner, but since I was on vacation I treated myself to a LOT of these. This looks just as delicious! The coco lopez stuff is the best for making drinks!

I would love to make a coffee frappacino with it and having just read your story and recipe, I would love to try adding some spiced rum to it just to tickle it up a bit!! lol How good to sit around the pool drinking one!! 🙂

Maureen, this was exactly the story I needed to read after a long day. Thanks for the smile — and the recipe! My hubby & I never had a fridge with an ice maker either (until recently, xo!) and it took a week or two to acclimate to those strange middle of the night sounds… What was THAT? Do you think there’s an armadillo under the house? An opossum in the cupboards? LOL! Your new ice maker looks like it puts out some ‘just right sized’ cubes for an ongoing supply of pina coladas… now all you need are some giant plastic glasses. (Well… maybe not!) Thanks for the drink inspiration. 🙂

I did not know you can buy a portable ice cube maker. This is totally brilliant and very ergonomic as well. If I was lucky enough to win one I would pick some lemons from the tree and make a decadent frozen margarita like we used to buy at the old Bourbon and Beefsteak in Kings Cross. In huge glasses topped with a lemon slice and indeed, a straw it would be divine with fresh ice cubes.

I’ve never had a pina colada in Australia that tasted anything like the ones in the Caribbean. They all used coconut cream, pineapple juice and rum and a lot of ice. I was expecting dessert in a glass. 🙂

Brings me back to a wild few weeks my Momma and I spent in Puerto Rico many years ago, the resort we were staying at had the most magical happy hour prices, the Aussie in us sure emerged then. LOL!
Need to get me one of these ice makers, there never seems to be enough.

I LOVE these. I’ve gotten brave and made them for guests. Brave in the fact I know zip about making cocktails, but I am finding it’s fun. I don’t drink much
either. I do get sea sick at times. And boy howdy I don’t envy you the headache that John ‘gave’ you. Ha!